Matterz

We don't need a midfielder that will score us 15 goals a season, we need a striker that will! Our midfield already contributes plenty of goals...

Really don't see us even batting an eyelid at all of this, Yaya is a great player, one of the best in the world, however we seem to be focusing on recruiting young talent these days eg. van Ginkel

We already have the like for like replacement for Yaya.....Matic

He might not be ready to be the number 1 midfielder next to Matic, but he certainly has the potential and is the type of player we have been recruiting over the past few seasons. I think with Ramires, Luiz and if Lampard signs a new contract, there is a lot of experience who can play next to Matic while Van Ginkel and Clasie are bled in. Be a funny looking pair of DLP's though Clasie and Matic, one is like 6"5 and the other like 5"5 hahaha

Rodriguez also has an amazing crossing ability, and I dont like a fullback who can whip in dangerous crosses, especially to a big target like Diego Costa, would add another dimension to our attacking threat.

I like Jordy Clasie too.

Because you make such a compelling argument to support your opinion...

Fair enough, however its still the best defence in Europe with some seriously good attacking players in front of it. Ideally you would have a Luke Shaw at left back and push Azpilicueta to the right. Two DLP's would be great too, but I dont think its always necessary and we could at times just play with Matic and four attacking midfielders.

Courtois Ivanovic Cahill Terry Azpilicueta Oscar Matic Reus Willian Hazard Costa That's an awesome side no matter which way you look at it...

It's exactly that, 'Bullsh*t' and nothing more...Costa has a buyout clause, so there really is no reason why they would be 'negotiating'

NIce collection, Ive got many shirts, but my most prized is my Umbro centenary shirt. Memorabilia wise, Ive got a shirt signed by the whole squad and Carlo when we won the double, and my prize possession is my champions league embroided winners shirt, signed by all 23 squad players and Di Matteo. Would love to get hold of some personally signed stuff though, it would mean a whole lot more to me, hard to do that in South Africa though.

My point is that our attacking three players are clearly doing something right, I believe that it is the link up play between them and the strikers that is the problem, generally there is no one in a good position for them to be more effective. If we had someone better up front who could link up with them and hold the ball up, we should see far more goals. Our strikers hardly ever feature the full 90 minutes, and they are rotated more than any other team. If we had more consistency up front we would definitely see more possession and ultimately more goals.

Chelsea Oscar - Key Passes 1.4 Ave Passes 37.3 Pass Success 83% Hazard - Key Passes 2.6 Ave Passes 43.8 Pass Success 83.3% Willian - Key Passes 2.6 Ave Passes 39.4 Pass Success 85.6% Bayern Munich Ribery - Key Passes 2.5 Ave Passes 53.9 Pass Success 83.9% Gotze - Key Passes 1.4 Ave Passes 44 Pass Success 87.7% Robben - Key Passes 1.7 Ave Passes 30.6 Pass Success 81.7% Manchester City Silva - Key Passes 3.3 Ave Passes 68.6 Pass Success 87.9% Nasri - Key Passes 2.6 Ave Passes 53.7 Pass Success 91.3% Navas - Key Passes 1.9 Ave Passes 34.2 Pass Success 85.8% Real Madrid Bale - Key Passes 1.5 Ave Passes 26.8 Pass Success 75.7% Isco - Key Passes 2.1 Ave Passes 41.6 Pass Success 89.1% Di Maria - Key Passes 2.7 Ave Passes 39.7 Pass Success 82.8% Total Chelsea - Key Passes 6.6 Ave Passes 120.5 Pass Success 84% Bayern - Key Passes 5.6 Ave Passes 128.5 Pass Success 84.4% Man City - Key Passes 7.8 Ave Passes 156.5 Pass Success 88.3% Madrid - Key Passes 6.3 Ave Passes 108.1 Pass Success 82.5% Based on that, our three attacking midfielders are slightly better than both Bayern and Madrid, bearing in mind we average a lot less possession than all these sides. If we can keep possession better we should be closer to City's stats. So it appears that there is nothing wrong with our attacking trio in terms of creativity.

We also average 1 through ball per game out of an average of 513 passes per game. No wonder Torres battles to find the net.

1.86 goals per game and 17.9 shots per game, 6 on target, so no not very good. Another interesting stat is that we have only scored 5 goals from a counter attack which accounts for 7% of our goals.

Interceptions are pretty low across the board really so its difficult to measure, the real significance appears to be with tackles. Later I will show how Nemanja Matic, who is a machine at tackling based on the stats, compares to targets such as Toni Kroos, Luca Modric and Ross Barkley. But I think again the problem seems to be that we don't break up opposition play enough and not that we aren't great passers. If we had another player in midfield making tackles and distributing quickly, players like Oscar, Willian and Hazard would all have improved passes per game stats because they would have the ball more and would be able to counter more which they are best at.

Surprisingly we actually rank 4th in Europe for shots per game and 1st in the Premier League with 17.9 shots per game. On target also isn't bad, we rank 7th in Europe with an average on 6 per game, compared to first in Europe for both average shots and shots on target Real Madrid with 19.6 and 8.1 respectively. Really highlights how shit our strikers actually are, but I will get into more specifics on strikers later this evening.

With silly season about to kick in and inevitably Chelsea FC get linked with every player with an overall Fifa14 stat of 80 and higher, I thought it might be good to take a look at where exactly we need strengthening based on statistics (actual stats, not Fifa14 stats), and based on such who would be the best options to strengthen these areas. So firstly, let's take a look at where Chelsea have been statistically weak over the past season... Goals - Its pretty obvious really, we don't score enough goals. Chelsea have scored the 3rd most goals in the Premier League with 69 which is almost 30 shy of the top two. Possession - 8th in the Premier League and 20th in Europe with an average of 55% per game. Passing Success - 7th in Premier League and 19th in Europe with an average of 83%. Obviously if we improve our passing success, our possession should improve as well Tackles - 10th in Premier League and 69th in Europe for number of tackles per game with an average of 19.2. Interesting considering we probably have the best defense in the Premier League as well as in Europe. It seems as though we absorb pressure well, but dont really dispossess opponents easily. A problem seeing as we are strong on the counter attack and the more we can dispossess the opposition, the more our possession will improve. i think we would all agree that we obviously need strikers, a left back, and strengthen the midfield. Based on the above, it would suggest that we are desperate for someone who scores a lot of goals upfront, someone who makes a lot of tackles and has a high passes per game and passing success statistic, and a left back who pretty much does the. i will be posting some research on these areas of who would be our best options based on this over the next few days and am really looking forward to all of your thoughts on them.

In: Costa Modric/Vidal Shaw Reus Out: Torres Ba Mikel Cole My fantasy transfers, wont all happen, but hey I can dream can't I?

Costa Hazard Willian Oscar Matic Koke Azpi Terry Cahill Ivanovic Courtois Subs...Cech, Shaw, Luiz, Lampard, Ramires, Schurlle, Lukaku Still Got...Schwarzer, Kalas, Zouma, van Ginkel, Salah, and possibly Eto'o I'd say that is pretty terrifying for any opposition....also I think Koke is awesome, great passer, puts his shift in defensively. per whoscored.com - Apps Goals Assists Yellow Red PS% Rating Total 41 (4) 7 15 8 0 81.5 7.32 Avg tackles per game - 2.6 Avg Passes per game - 45.8 success rate 81.5% Not quite on Matic or Vidal's level, but he is only 22

Hahahaha, what would happen to Mata if Jose did go to Utd? Jose ain't going anywhere he is one of us!

I just think we really need to win our last three games, whatever happens with the other teams results happens, cant worry about that, be amazing if we win it, but if we dont it would also be very satisfying to take it away from Liverpool. Been a good season though, team has definitely improved from the last few seasons and will be even better in Mourinho's second season.

The amounts being quoted for a left back, let alone an 18 year old are ridiculous. No guarantee he will ever be a first choice left back at Chelsea. Be much better off with Alberto Moreno or Ricardo Rodriguez for half the price.

Highly doubt Ramires will go, Mourinho loves him. He has been poor recently, but lets not forget how good Ramires can be. Luiz too, he is a big game player and id love him to stay. Gives us real versatility in midfield. Not sure if Lamps will spend another season, and on his wages we could really bring in a special young midfielder, maybe Marek Hamsik or someone like that.

I agree, great player, but those who are stating that Mourinho is looking for a CM, well id love to know how they know that? If we do sign a midfielder, will probably be a youngster like Jordy Clasie from Feyenoord. Pity van Ginkel got injured, I still believe we have a real gem of a midfielder in him.